custōs

Meaning

1. a guard, protector, watchman
2. a guardian, tutor
   Virginum custōs et pater, sāncte Iōsēph, cuius fidēlī custōdiae, ipsa innocentia, Chrīstus Iēsūs, et virgō virginum, Marīa, commissa fuit; tē per hoc utrumque carissimum pignus Iēsum et Marīam obsecrō et obtestor, ut mē, ab omnī immunditiā praeservātum, mente incontaminātā, pūrō corde et castō corpore Iēsū et Marīae semper faciās castissimē famulārī. Āmēn.Oh guardian of virgins and father, Saint Joseph, to whose faithful custody innocence itself, Christ Jesus, and the virgin of virgins, Mary, was entrusted. By this most dear charge, Jesus and Mary, I beg and beseech [thee] that I may be preserved from all uncleanness, and that thou wouldst make it so that, with an undefiled mind, and with a pure heart, and with a chaste body, I might always most chastely serve Jesus and Mary. AmenPius V, Missale Romanum (1962)
3. a jailer
4. a keeper, custodian
   Invitent croceis [apes] halantes floribus horti Et custos furum atque avium cum falce salignaMay gardens bright, fragrant with flower, lure them [the bees] and Hellespontian Priap with his willow scythe the robbing bee and the birds keep away.c. 37 BCE – 30 BCE, Vergilius, Georgicon 4.109–111

Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers

Declension

Origins

Of unclear ultimate origin. The mainstream etymology, proposed by Nowicki (1978), derives the word from a compound *kusto-sd- (“who sits near the hidden/near the treasure”), where the first element is cognate to Proto-Germanic *huzdą (“hidden treasure”) (also of uncertain etymology; see more at English hoard and below) and the second element is a reduced form of Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”). However, this etymology is disputed, and De Vaan is skeptical of it, with further discussion in the below box. More information One proposal derives *kusto- and *huzdą from *kudʰ-to-, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewdʰ- (“to cover, wrap, encase”), from *(s)kewH- (“to cover, hide”), whence Ancient Greek κεύθω (keúthō, “to conceal”) and Old English hȳdan (“to hide, conceal, preserve”). But the derivation of Latin /st/ and Proto-Germanic *zd from PIE *dʰ-t is controversial. Some etymologists consider /st/ to be the regular outcome in Latin of PIE *dʰ-t, based on aestās and aestus; according to this view, the /ss/ found in participle forms such as iussus and fossus was introduced by analogy with forms built on stems ending in other dental consonants. But De Vaan argues that it is better to analyze /ss/ as the regular outcome of *dʰ-t, and the /st/ of aestās and aestus as an analogical reformation. Thus, De Vaan considers the /st/ in custōs unexplained and the etymology unknown. Oswald Szemerényi (1952/3 [1987]) alternatively derives the /st/ here and the *zd in Proto-Germanic *huzdą from PIE *sdʰ, tracing both back to a Proto-Indo-European *k(e)wsdʰo- (“palace, treasure house, treasure”). This etymology is accepted by Ringe (2006) who mentions Ancient Greek κύσθος (kústhos, “vulva”) as another cognate. However, Lubotsky (2004) finds this unconvincing and considers the regular outcome of *sdʰ in Latin to be a long vowel + /d/.

Related words